Reliving the days of retro gaming from the 80's, 90's and 00's along with the discussion of modern day titles.

Retro Gaming- Fable: (2004)

We all remember the original Fable title when it was first released for the Xbox game console in 2004. The original Fable game was developed by Big Blue Box Studios & Lionhead Studios along with being published by Microsoft Studios. Fable was such a great role playing game since it included the freedom of choice in this game allowed players to do almost anything they wanted. The alignment system in Fable is one of the key features that stands out because the actions of the main character affects not only their appearance but also the story itself. Fable also included realistic features such as the characters health being affected by their diet along with appearances having the power to either attract or repel other individuals in terms of interaction.

The main character of Fable is assisted by a famous hero known as Maze after his village was invaded and all of his family were seemingly killed in the process. Eventually, it was discovered that the Hero’s sister survived the invasion and was living in a bandit camp after being accepted by the leader who was known as TwinBlade. The irony about this was the fact that the Bandit King was also considered to be a hero prior to his current lifestyle. After infiltrating the bandit camp and defeating Twinblade the player as the option of either destroying him versus sparing his life. The same option is also give to the main protagonist when they cross paths with an old friend named Whisper after defeating her in an arena battle ran by Jack of Blade. As the story continues the main character makes some shocking discoveries such as Jack of Blades being responsible for the attack on his village along with is mother being imprisoned.

To make matters worse the main character is betrayed by his trainer Maze only to discover that he was working for Jack of Blades. However, the main character eventually got his revenge on Maze which was great especially since it happened after he was imprisoned for a year and kidnapped his sister. After defeating Maze the main character eventually defeats Jack of Blades but his victory is bittersweet since he ended up losing his mother in the process. Following Jack of Blade’s defeat the player has the option of keeping the Sword of Aeons versus destroying it which was interesting since the game had multiple endings depending on the choices one made throughout the game. The inclusion of multiple endings based on choices made was great because it would urge people to play throughout the entire game more than once to see each ending. Along with the inclusion of the multiple endings and the freedom of choice there were various side quests players that players could participate in that would allow them to get additional hours of gameplay.

About a year after this title was made its debut a re-release of the game entitled Fable: “Lost Chapters” had featured an extension of the story. In Fable: Lost Chapters players were charged with the task of defeating Jack of Blades a second time. The only difference with Fable: Lost Chapters is that the player must capture Jack’s soul in a mask and is then given the option to destroy it or not. The cool thing about Fable: Lost Chapters is that the player can ultimately decide their fate along with gaining possession of another sword that is just as powerful as “The Sword of Aeons.” When Fable was first released in 2004 many people thought that it was quite possibly one of the best RPG titles they have every played on the Xbox.

Based on the great qualities that Fable had featured including concept, gameplay, and graphics this game was without a doubt a legendary RPG title in the making that people had to play if they owned an Xbox. After its initial release GamePro came very close to giving Fable a five star rating while IGN scored this title in the nine point bracket out of ten. While the original Fable game along with “Lost Chapters” was very popular in 2004 & 2005 the series would only improve when Fable II was released for the Xbox 360 in 2008.